The Long Take Review

Pixar films, and especially those in the Toy Story franchise, have always excelled at pitching to both kids and adults. Toy Story 5 takes that feature to the next level by tackling issues on every parent’s mind: screen time, devices, and Internet safety. As both parents of grade school kids and teachers of college students, Greg and I really ran with this topic and the film’s treatment of in it in...

The truth is really out there! This week on the show we talk about Steven Spielberg’s latest cinematic statement on extraterrestrial life, Disclosure Day . In theaters now, the science fiction thriller is full of intense chase sequences, inexplicable phenomena, and an astonishing performance from Emily Blunt; all of that prompted us to over-analyze, over-interpret, under-critique (if we’re being h...

Here at The Long Take Review, we are incredibly excited to see master filmmaker Steven Spielberg return to the sci-fi thriller genre for the first time since War of the Worlds in 2005. But, as fans of his know, his filmography of over 60 years spans many other genres as well. So what better way to celebrate the architect of the modern summer blockbuster than to have a draft of all of his films to...

The box office is booming, but, weirdly, it’s not because there’s a new Star Wars film in theaters for the first time in seven years. Two low budget horror films that have ties to YouTube, Backrooms (which cost $10 million) and Obsession (which cost < $1 million), have raised eyebrows and questions about the future of theatrical moviemaking. This unexpected windfall caught our attention as well, s...

The Internet can’t seem to decide if The Mandalorian and Grogu is actually doing well at the box office so far. Many news article frame the opening weekend as a failure, saying it is a “disappointment ” that hits a “series low.” Meanwhile, other articles have crowned the action adventure film as the winner of the long weekend. According to box office analyst Scott Mendelson , the early performance...

Star Wars is about to return to cinemas with Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu , which is just days away from its opening weekend. To celebrate Star Wars on the big screen, and, frankly, to calm our nerves as we restlessly await the new film, we recorded an extra long take in which we rank all twelve films from the franchise that were released in theaters. (In case your math is not mathing,...

Strike a pose and prepare your finest fit montage because we’re reviewing The Devil Wears Prada 2 ! Having looked back at the original film last week, Greg, P.T., and I size up one of the most anticipated sequels of the summer movie season. What surprised us about this reunion 20 years later? What delighted us? And how might this film be the perfect encapsulation of life, media, and technology in...

Gird your loins! The first movie of the summer movie season, The Devil Wears Prada 2 , is in theaters now. To prepare for our review, we wanted to turn back the clock twenty years and revisit (or, for some of us, watch for the first time) the original film starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt. What feels dated? What holds up? Is this the Meryl Streep show or an ense...

When Oscar nerds think back to the 71st Academy Awards, they remember Shakespeare in Love , which won seven Oscars, Saving Private Ryan , which won five, and maybe Life is Beautiful , which won 3. (I still remember actor/director Roberto Benigni climbing on the seats to get to the stage when his film won in what is now the International Feature category.) Too often, though, people forget that the...

For once, a trailer didn’t spoil the movie! The marketing materials for Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama , playing in theaters now, have kept one big reveal fundamental to the plot of the film a secret. And considering it made $14 million its opening weekend and is currently at over $46 million worldwide , it seems as though that decision has paid off. Was it purely the intrigue and mystery of the pl...

Now that Oscar season has ended, we finally have a chance to catch our breath and talk about new movies in 2026! Greg and P.T. give their SPOILER-FREE takes on eight movies that they’ve enjoyed. So if you’re in the market for recommendations, but you don’t want to go into a spoilery deep dive with them, this episode is for you. They also managed to mention nearly every other movie that has been re...

We might still be riding the high of Project Hail Mary ’s massive success at the box office , but it really seems like 2026 might be a movie year defined by abundance. With multiple big, epic blockbusters from legendary directors and several actors putting out not one, but in some cases two or three movies in one year (Anne Hathaway has six!), it seems as though we will have nothing but choices. B...

With the Oscars just fading out of the rear view mirror, it’s a shock and a thrill to already have another hit in theaters. Within six days of its release, Project Hail Mary surpassed $100 million domestically, according to Deadline . That’s a box office performance second to only one other film that’s not a sequel and not part of a franchise: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer , which won best pictu...

Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor ! Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to ever win an Oscar for Cinematography ! Cassandra Kulukundis defied all prognostication and won the first ever Best Casting Oscar ! Kumail Nanjiani shepherded a packed Dolby Theater through a rare tie in Live Action Short! (And did so with amusing aplomb .) Even everybody’s favorite baby Yoda, Grogu , made an appeara...

Get hyped for the Oscars tomorrow! In celebration of our favorite day of the year, we invited our friends and fellow Oscar nerds to share their thoughts on this year’s nominees, picking one desired winner in one category of their choice. It was also Greg’s birthday when we recorded this episode, so keep an ear open for birthday wishes sprinkled throughout and a special segment involving a very spe...

The Oscars are just a week away now, and while we haven’t had any real clues about who will win since we posted Part One of our predictions , there have been some strange news stories about backlash indicting Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet as anti-ballet and opera , and Best Actress nominee Jessie Buckley as anti-cat . What few people spewing hot takes on the Internet realize, though, is tha...

We’re in the end game now: the Oscars will air live on ABC and Hulu at 4PM pacific/7PM eastern on Sunday March 15th. As I type this, voting for the Oscars is about to close tomorrow March 5th, and we now have all the information we’re going to get in terms of precursors. So, of course, we at The Long Take Review spent many hours this week recording our final predictions for who we think WILL win a...

Stellan Skarsgård could win his very first Oscar this year. But after losing to Sean Penn at the BAFTAs last weekend, that seems less likely now. Skarsgård is long overdue for this level of recognition, as he has graced our screens for decades with mainstream blockbusters from huge franchises like Marvel (he plays Dr. Erik Selvig in five MCU films, most notably Thor (2011) and The Avengers (2012))...

Greg will be delighted to know that his brainchild, LTR Quick Takes , has actually caught on! It’s a thing now because we did it twice! For the second edition of these quicker, spoiler-free reviews, P.T. and Antonio discuss the new films they saw through the Sundance Film Festival’s virtual portal. After discussing each of the films (listed below), they conclude the episode with their speculation...

The BAFTA nominations came out last week, and mostly told us that even if we had them before the Oscar nominations (as we usually do), we still would have been wrong about most of the categories that had surprises (i.e. Delroy Lindo! Elle Fanning! Avatar: Fire and Ash in costume?!). Since then, it’s been a pretty quiet week in the Oscar race. Most critics and podcasters have pivoted to covering th...

It’s another busy week in awards season land! Both the BAFTA (British Oscars) nominations and WGA (Writer’s Guild) nominations came out today. While there is probably a lot to parse there in terms of who’s ahead in the Oscars race, we at the Long Take Review wanted to take some time out of our busy coverage to hand out our own awards, the LTRs or “Letters.” And in true LTR fashion, we set out to m...

Some awards seasons are chaotic and uncertain going into the Golden Globes; last year at this time pundits were shrugging their shoulders, only to learn a few days later that it was Anora in the lead all along. This is not one of those years. Last weekend’s Globes ceremony cemented the dominance of this year’s top Oscar contender, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another . The star-studded...

Many film critics say “ Never bet against Big Jim ” because each time James Cameron releases an Avatar film, everyone doubts its success in anticipation and then sheepishly reports that the film has made over a billion dollars. This year is no different, with Avatar: Fire and Ash having just crossed the billion dollar mark a few days ago. A close second to that Hollywood aphorism is never bet agai...

Everyone loves a good cry at the movies, right? [silence] Right?? Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet , based on a beloved novel that dramatizes Shakespeare’s family life, quickly earned notoriety for being a tear-jerker after it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival. Critics, however, were split in their response to needing tissues: while some viewed it as a triumph , others resented it, accusing the film of...

Everyone’s favorite Southern drawl detective, Benoit Blanc, is back! That means we are here for a full investigation into the crime, the suspects, and the awards potential of Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man . Join all four regular hosts as we unpack this new whodunnit, discussing its spiritual themes, zippy jokes, and breezy style. We go into SPOILER MODE at the 27:10 minute mark. If you want to k...